Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Reject Iranian Produce Over Pesticide

"If the government's budget bill for the next Iranian year, [starting late March] is implemented, it will create a lot of problems for the people and might lead to a major social explosion that cannot be controlled," Jomhuri Eslami (Islamic Republic) daily wrote in an editorial. The paper called on parliament to amend the bill.

In November 2019, a government decision to increase fuel prices led to immediate street unrest, put down by security forces who killed hundreds of people. As a result, the regime’s legitimacy took a big blow.

The daily said that the government should not increase taxes and should continue to subsidize essential commodities by allocating cheap foreign currency for their import to prevent further inflation.

The leading conservative paper charged that those who wrote the budget bill failed to understand the importance of these points because they do not come from the low-income classes and do not know about the impact of a devalued national currency on people's livelihood.

Jomhouiri Eslami further added that the new taxation regulations stipulated in the budget bill will lead to a revolt.The daily suggested that the government should avoid allocating budget to municipalities and to tens of useless organizations.

Iranian economists and media have often criticized the governments for allocating hefty budgets to the seminaries and propaganda organizations whose only function is to convince the people that the government's ideology can lead to their salvation.

Meanwhile, reformist newspaper Sharq in a report on Saturday reminded that President Ebrahim Raisi in his latest televised interview on December 5 said, "We are not going to surprise the people by sudden hikes in prices." The paper wrote despite the president’s statement price continued to increase since he took office in August.

Sharq said that given the government's inability to control prices, it is likely that the people will surprise Raisi. This was a clear allusion to the possibility of protests in Iran because of rising inflation as many Iranian analysts have warned.

Iran’s inflation began to rise dangerously after the United States pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed sanctions in 2018. Without oil export revenues, the government is facing a serious budget shortfall. The currency rial has fallen eightfold since early 2018.

Last week, once again Raisi called on his economic team to make sure that the prices do not go up as people prepared to celebrate a pre-Islamic feast on the longest night of the year, Yalda, on December 21. But press and social media reports indicated that food shopping was reduced to a quarter of what it was last year.

Sharq reminded Raisi that ordering his managers to lower the prices is not likely to work. "He still cannot believe that he is the president and in charge of managing the economy. That is why he keeps issuing orders to others instead of taking action to correct the situation," the paper quoted social media users as saying.

Sharq also pointed out that only three days after Raisi promised on live TV that he would not surprise the people, the price of Iranian-made cars went up by 100 to 500 million rials each. This further discredited Raisi because the cars are being produced by or in partnership with the government. Sharq quoted social media users as saying that "The economic Mafia made the president look like a fool.”

The projectile also left six Saudis and one Bengali resident injured and it damaged 12 cars and two shops, the Saudi state news agency said.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen carried out an attack later on Friday in response to what it called "the attack's origins" and said it will follow that with a wider attack on Houthi military targets.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea wrote on Twitter on Saturday that three ballistic missiles targeted "critical" sites in Jazan.

The main Houthi news outlet Al Masirah TV said a child and a woman were killed and seven more were injured in coalition strikes on Yemen's Al Mahwit governorate.

Another Houthi Projectile hit Saudi's Najran city causing material damage.

Coalition forces struck a Houthi military camp in the center of the Yemeni Capital Sanaa early on Friday, with residents telling Reuters explosions rocked the city.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa.

Deputy Governor-General of Khuzestan, Valiollah Hayati, who oversees the provincial Covid taskforce, announced the restrictions on Saturday, saying the 15-day mandate starts immediately.

He then exempted holders of valid residence permits, student and work visas, students of seminaries and universities, as well investors and medical visas, adding that “only people from these seven groups” are allowed to cross the borders with their vaccine cards and a negative PCR test. Iraq borders Iran in the southwest.

Iran confirmed the first Omicron case on Sunday, December 19, and began preparations to deal with the new virus.

An official earlier in the week in Tehran said hospitals and clinics are on alert and are expanding emergency room services in anticipation of more infections with Omicron, noting that its impact will be felt next week.

Iran has reportedly vaccinated about 60 percent of its 84-million population with two doses of Covid vaccines, mainly the Chinese-made Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik-V.

Although fatal cases have been decreasing during the past few weeks due to vaccination, a new study has indicated that Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines are weaker against Omicron.

Ayatollah Kazem Nourmofidi, representative of Iran in the northern Golestan province last week dismissed Gergij, the Friday prayer leader (imam) of Sunnis in Azadshahr. Nourmofidi also appointed a new imam for Azadshahr and nearby Galikosh which has a considerably large Sunni population and a Sunni seminary.

Both Shiite and Sunni Friday imams are appointed by the Supreme Leader or his representatives, but the imam's supporters say Shiite officials have no right to decide on their behalf, and their imams must be appointed by a council of Sunni clerics. Sunnis also oppose the interference of the Leader's representativesin running their seminaries.

Gergij's dismissal came after he made some remarks about Shiite Imams in his Friday sermon two weeks ago that some Shiites found offensive to their sanctities. Gergij said his remarks had been misinterpreted and he had meant no disrespect.

The sacking of Gergij has caused some unrest in Golestan province which has a large Turkmen and Balochi Sunni population. The Sunni imam's supporters have marched on the streets of Azadshahr and Galikosh several times since his dismissal by Khamenei's representative.

Gergij was summoned to the governor's office in Galikosh Thursday morning where hundreds gathered and chanted Allahu Akbar in his support. He was not allowed to return home before evening.

In a video distributed on social media Thursday, Gergij is seen reading from a prepared text and calling his supporters not to stage any protest rallies "to allow disputes to be resolved in a calm atmosphere". Some supporters have alleged that he was pressured to make the statement by security forces.

The Sunnis of Azadshahr were not allowed to hold their Friday prayers at the usual prayer groundsbut videos posted on social media Friday showed hundreds of local Sunnis gathered at a mosque in Galikosh where Gergij was led to the minbar (pulpit) to lead the prayers.

In a letter to Khamenei December 24, Abdolhamid Esmail-Zehi, the influential Sunni Friday imam of Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchistan province, said Gergij's dismissal troubled and disillusioned the Sunni population and could have "irreparable consequences for the unity of Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iran.

Abdolhamid who is considered the most influential Sunni cleric in Iran has often criticized the Islamic Republic for treating the minority Muslim community as second-class citizens.

In the June presidential election, Abdolhamid who had in the previous elections supported reformist and moderate candidates threw his weight behind hardliner Ebrahim. But he put the onus on Raisi and said his government would be Iran’s “last hope".

The Sunni leader's pro-Taliban statementsafter the Taliban takeover in Kabul led to criticisms from rights groups.

Iran's Sunnis, who constitute between 5 and 10 percent of the population, often complain of discrimination, which bars them from key government and military positions.

Most Sunnis belong to Turkmen, Arab, Baluchi, and Kurdish ethnic groups who live in north-east, south-west, south-east, and north-west provinces respectively and may also be subject to ethnic discrimination.

Iran’s oil exports have increased in the past one year compared with 2019-2020, according to business intelligence groups, but are still well below 2 million bpd exported before US sanctions were imposed in 2018.

Khatib also said that Iran’s access to its foreign currency reserves have also increased.

Iran does not officially announce the foreign currency reserves as a matter of policy and all figures are estimates calculated by international or foreign institutes. However, Iran’s currency has fallen by more than 20 percent since August, which is not an indication of access to foreign currencies.

In its regional report for the Middle East and Central Asia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Iran’s accessible international reserves was $4 billion in 2020, that is a tiny fraction of the $122.5 billion of reserves the country held in 2018.

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook, the IMF said Iran’s “oil activity will remain subdued in the short term, reflecting the OPEC+ production curbs and continued US sanctions.”

Islamic Republic has dipped into its foreign reserves to make up for the loss of oil revenues.